Excerpted, edited by Carolyn Bennett

“The war and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq are both colonial-type wars.”

Bush used the ‘War on Terror’ as a pretext for the escalation of imperialist intervention. Bush is gone but the brutal occupations continue.

Eight long years after the invasion of Afghanistan, the United States and its NATO allies are vastly expanding the war, doubling the numbers of troops.

Casualties on both sides are soaring. Resistance to foreign occupation is growing rapidly inside Afghanistan and across the border in Pakistan. The war is a disaster for the peoples of those countries—just as are the occupations of Iraq and Palestine.

The invasion and occupation of Afghanistan is also growing U.S. domestic disaster — not only for the soldiers and their families, but for the tens of millions of people suffering under the U.S. and global economic crisis.

Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq cost more than $14 billion per month
$160 billion every year
Nearly $1,000,000,000,000 ($1 trillion!) since the start.

Politicians who tell Americans there’s no money for single-payer health care are the same politicians “who never say no to the military-industrial complex and have given away more than $10 trillion to the big banks.” Money is there. The problem is, politicians are dedicated not to people but to protecting the interests of health insurance corporations and military industrialists.

THE 8TH ANNIVERSARY OF WAR ON AFGHANISTAN draws RETURN OF STREET PROTESTS!

Tuesday October 7, 2009, marks the start of the ninth year of the invasion of Afghanistan. That day anti-war protests will occur in cities and towns across America. Monday October 5 and Saturday October 17 anti-war actions will also occur.

The ANSWER Coalition is calling on people in cities and towns and on campuses to take to the streets and to engage in other actions (rallies, pickets, teach-ins) —Demanding an end to all wars and occupations and serious attention to health care for all.

The ANSWER Coalition will post all October anti-war
actions on its website at www.ANSWERCoalition.org. The site to
post actions is http://www.pephost.org/site/R?i=s4EvwX_8Piidx3tmrVBZGw

In the meantime war death tolls rise.

UPDATE from sources August 10-12, 2009 - Iraq, Afghanistan
(exact figures and costs of war are unobtainable)

American Military Casualties in Iraq: since the war began March 19, 2003: 4,331; since the Obama inauguration January 20, 2009: 103; Wounded 31,463-over 100,000; U.S. veterans with brain injuries: 320,000; 18 suicides a day [Anti-war dot com: “Casualties in Iraq, The Human Cost of Occupation” (Edited by Margaret Griffis), http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/ (latest update August 10, 2009)]

Iraq Body Count figures: 92,641-101,129 [http://www.iraqbodycount.org/]

Iraq Coalition Casualty Count figures: IRAQ: U.S. 4,331; Coalition: 4,649; AFGHANISTAN: U.S.: 780 Coalition: 1,305 [http://icasualties.org/oif/]

Just Foreign Policy: "The number is shocking and sobering. It is at least 10 times greater than most estimates cited in the US media, yet it is based on a scientific study of violent Iraqi deaths caused by the U.S.-led invasion of March 2003." Just Foreign Policy figures--Iraqi Deaths: 1,339,771 [http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/Iraq]

IN THE NEWS

Palestine Summer 2009

Since Israel imposed a siege on Gaza in 2007, Palestinians have resorted to smuggling foods and a wide array of goods, including fuel and livestock, from Egypt via underground tunnels. Scores of people, including children under the age of 16 who work inside the tunnels, have been killed in accidents or from suffocation, collapse or Egyptian detonations.

GAZA, July 27 (Xinhua) — Medical sources said today the death toll had risen to four when the bodies of three Palestinians were evacuated from the tunnel that was destroyed in a blast on Sunday (July 26) under the border line between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Rescue workers continued to search for missing people in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah “Death toll of Gaza tunnel blast rises to four,” July 27, 2009, China View, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/27/content_11780604.htm

Occupied Vise on Iran

August 11-12

PAKISTAN—At least 70 people are reported to have been killed and dozens injured in a major battle between Taliban fighters and another tribal group in Pakistan. “Deaths in Pakistan Taliban attack,” August 12, 2009, Al Jazeera, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/08/200981214203867305.htmlAugust 11-12

AFGHANISTAN—“Gunmen have abducted five people campaigning for Dr Abdullah Abdullah, the main rival to [U.S.-ally] Hamid Karzai, in Afghanistan’s presidential election.…

“Violence in Afghanistan is at its worst levels since the Taliban were ousted in 2001 ahead of the poll, which they have vowed to disrupt.” “Afghan campaign workers kidnapped,” August 12, 2009, Al Jazeera, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/08/2009812153737920740.html

August 11-12

IRAQ — Several bombs exploded nearly simultaneously Tuesday (August 11) in a mainly Shiite area in Baghdad, killing at least eight people and raising fears of a sustained insurgent campaign aimed at provoking new sectarian tensions. The five-day death toll rose to 123 in the worst spasm of bombings the country has suffered since U.S. forces left the cities at the end of June, turning over urban security to Iraqi troops.…

“The bloodshed threatened to chip away at public confidence in the U.S.-backed government as it seeks to project a sense of normalcy ahead of next year’s national elections, including an announcement last week that all concrete blast walls will be gone from Baghdad's main roads by mid-September.” “Iraqi police say bomb blasts kill 8 and wound 22,” August 11, 2009, Associated Press, http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hwK_CSpBxsNuVUEaDuOwmSSCiqGwD9A0SMFO1

Posted by Bennett's Column at 6:39 PM 0 comments
Labels: ANSWER Coalition, anti-war movement, U.S. foreign policy, U.S. occupation

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Blogging at todaysmissingnews
http://todaysmissingnews.blogspot.com
Dr. Carolyn LaDelle Bennett-author, independent journalist based in Brighton, New York State